Monday, October 28, 2013

Response to a City's Smog Points to a Change in Chinese Attitude


Response to a City's Smog Points to a Change in Chinese Attitude

Wong, Edward. "Response to a City’s Smog Points to a Change in Chinese Attitude."New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web.         

          In the recent article “Response to a City’s Smog Points to a Change in Chinese Attitude” by Edward Wong, the Chinese government has begun an emergency response to the smog levels in China. One city specifically by the name of Harbin is currently suffering extreme amounts of smog leading to the entire city having to close its schools and have buses get off the road, farmers were also told to stop the burning of their fields. To put the current situation in perspective the smog is so thick that residents may only see a few yards of what is around them, this is increases the risk of a car crash by quite a lot. This smog is caused by the excessive use of coal in China, seeing as China has a 70% dependency on coal as the main source of energy. Chinese residents all over China have begun to fear what is to come because of how bad the air quality has become. Overall the lifespan of Chinese citizens is reduced by decades because of how toxic the air currently is. Another large problem is how residents sometimes are careless and do not wear masks. The Chinese government has recently begun to be very focused on the issue of the smog that has affected the air, ground, and water of China by sending officials to certain cities; this shall allow the Chinese government to enforce pollution limiting methods. These recent actions by the Chinese government seem promising but the only thing that can save China is to limit industries that are very dependent on the burning of coal.

          I believe the issue of pollution is beginning to show up in all places around the world, and not just in China and is relevant to all our lives. Pollution has been greatly increasing since the 1900s, and most countries have not done anything to limit smog in their countries. I believe that if we continue down this path every city shall resemble Harbin. Pollution directly affects all humans on Earth because we all share the same planet with the same atmosphere; this is why all humans should be aware of how the environment is currently being treated very badly.

          I enjoyed the way the article was written for it flowed pretty well and did not have too many facts that to an untrained eye would seem gibberish. The article is also made strong by its amount of viewpoints from Chinese officials and Chinese residents. However the length of the article did seem too long making the article longer than it had to be for it to get its point across. Overall it was an interesting article.



1 comment:

  1. I think Luca did a good job reviewing this article. He wrote about the smog levels in China that are starting to become unbearable, and how the Chinese citizens are dealing with it. Luca included specific details (statistics) that made the article more interesting and more “real.” He also talked about the effects of the smog, like people not being able to see a few feet in front of them and how car crashes are more likely. Luca summarized the article well and did a good job of adding important information that was necessary for the reader to understand all parts of the topic.
    I think that Luca’s article was good, but there were a few things that could be added to make it better. First, Luca could have added more information on how the Chinese government is dealing with the smog and how it can be stopped. Also, he could have written about what smog is, how dangerous it is, how it spreads, etc.
    I hadn’t really thought if this issue in the past, and it was interesting to learn about it and see the effects that it has and how widely it is affecting people.

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